


Sleep Tight

by Feenie



Series: Earth's Mightiest Reviewers [3]
Category: Atop the Fourth Wall
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Nightmares, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-30 02:17:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15086858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feenie/pseuds/Feenie
Summary: Linkara deals with nightmares after the Caelestis incident, and his friends do their best to help.





	Sleep Tight

**Author's Note:**

> god the section with nash and linkara took too many rewrites to fix. dear god
> 
> I wanted to do them talking about magic items and shit, but that wound up changing

It was a cloudy afternoon over Cinnabar City, and Linkara and his Bulbasaur were just leaving the Gym there with the Volcano Badge in hand.

“Alright, just one more badge to go, and it’s on to the Elite Four,” Linkara declared. He bent down to pat Bulbasaur’s head. “Sorry you didn’t get to fight much in there.”

Bulbasaur huffed, but smiled at its head being pat. “Bulba!”

“Now, let’s get some training in before the last Gym!” Linkara said, the two running down to the coastline. Maybe he could give Lapras a bit of a break too, he couldn’t imagine it was in any shape to train after taking on all of Blaine’s Pokemon--

_beneath the seas beside the flame_

He stopped dead in his tracks, heart thumping in his ears. Bulbasaur ran behind him, cowering behind his legs. “Bulba...!”

There was something that just--it didn’t look right next to everything else. It was a mass of--what was that, even? It was purple and black and white, and something in Linkara’s mind screamed at the mere sight of it.

_off the coast where the lost beast came to bring the world misery and shame_

Linkara didn’t hesitate to scoop up Bulbasaur and book it to the opposite end of Cinnabar. Something grabbed onto his leg and tripped him, Bulbasaur sent flying far away from Linkara.

Linkara dared to look back and saw a tendril reaching out from the mass, dragging him back toward it. All he could hear was static, his thoughts were fading rapidly, he could barely move--

_a piece of the world is missing_

Linkara jolted awake on the futon, blanket loosely draped over him. He tried to spring out of bed in a panic, but hit the ground in a messy heap.

He heard the door open, and he froze. If he stayed still, maybe they’d think he was dead, maybe they’d leave him alone--

A hand rested on his shoulder, and Linkara looked up to see Ninja-Style Dancer, light flooding in from outside Linkara’s room.

‘I missed something, didn’t I?’ he asked with a sign.

It had been a week or so since the incident with Mechakara. Malachite’s Hand had been taken into government custody, Linkara had more or less recovered from using up a good chunk of his magic, and Linksano had declared him mostly-free of the Entity. Mostly.

“There still is residue left behind, and if I’m being honest there’s more of it with you than 90’s Kid,” Linksano explained at Linkara’s wince. “And the reason why is obvious, unfortunately. It should not affect you any more than it has 90’s Kid, if it helps to know.”

Ninja-Style Dancer had been away during all that, Linkara realized as he fully returned to consciousness. And he came back to Linkara having a nightmare and falling on the floor.

“Sorry,” Linkara apologized, sitting up. “You wouldn’t believe what you’ve missed.”

Ninja-Style Dancer nodded, sitting beside Linkara. ‘I can imagine. Do you want to talk about it?’

“Yeah. Remember the Entity and how it tried to absorb everyone? It uh...”

Linkara fiddled with the edge of his blanket. “...it left a piece of itself in me, and possessed me when Mechakara tried to kill me. And then it left me and Nash put it in a Pokeball. And now 90’s Kid is avoiding me and I’m getting calls from every other reviewer I know asking if I’m okay, and Spoony just leaving me a message on my phone calling me an ‘idiot of the highest degree’ the other day.”

Ninja-Style Dancer’s eyebrows raised very far up. He drummed his fingers against his cards, before taking one out along with a pen and scribbling on it quickly. He eventually raised up a card covered in question marks, and Linkara weakly shrugged.

“Sorry. I would have contacted you, but I could only imagine you were busy.”

Ninja-Style Dancer quietly sighed, then helped Linkara back onto the futon. Once he was on, Ninja-Style Dancer asked, ‘Do you need anything while we’re both awake?’

“Not really. Look, uh...I’ll be okay for tonight,” Linkara assured. “Just let me calm down and get some rest.”

Ninja-Style Dancer didn’t look entirely convinced, but he simply nodded and left Linkara be. Linkara himself eventually returned to sleep, dreamless this time.

\--

Pollo didn’t know what to make of 90’s Kid avoiding Linkara lately. Ever since they came home, 90’s Kid spent a good portion of his time up on Comicron-1, alone. He came down to do the occasional cameo in Linkara’s videos, sure, but...

It was well over a month later after Mechakara’s defeat when Pollo finally approached him. He was working on the ship, as he usually had been every other time Pollo hovered over to check in on him. “Is everything okay, 90’s Kid?”

90’s Kid flinched, turning around with a wrench in his hands before relaxing. “Dude, warn me next time...”

“There isn’t much beating around the bush here, so...are you still upset over the decision to spare the Entity?” Pollo questioned.

90’s Kid turned away, wincing. “...kind of.”

“Linkara didn’t have any say in it, you know that,” Pollo reminded. “We’re all worried, 90’s Kid.”

90’s Kid didn’t look at Pollo, and Pollo wondered if this issue was more sensitive than it seemed. When 90’s finally spoke again, it was without any of his usual energy. “I know, but it’s...it’s just really hard to deal with. I was possessed by that thing for like...a _while._ Not as long as Linkara, but...”

He sighed. “It’s stupid, but just remembering him with his eyes all static-y, it freaks me out.”

Pollo wanted legs to kick himself in that moment. “...I’m sorry, 90’s Kid. I didn’t think--”

“Dude,” 90’s Kid interrupted, “it’s fine.”

“It clearly isn’t. It’s been a month, and--”

“I said _it’s fine!_ ” 90’s Kid repeated, raising his voice. “Look, I just need space, okay?”

He paused, as if remembering where he was, then added, “Pun not intended. But seriously, just let me have time to myself. Please.”

Pollo stared carefully at him. He really didn’t know what was going through his head, he wasn’t the one possessed by Missingno for months on end, but...

“...very well. Just don’t stay up here forever, I think Linkara misses hearing Nirvana every so often,” Pollo eventually said, hovering away.

90’s Kid just gave a quiet grunt in response.

\--

“...and then apparently there’s reports of velociraptor sightings up in Canada? I still can’t tell if it’s a promotional stunt for another Jurassic Park or World movie or whatever.”

Linkara snorted. It was now about three months post-Caelestis, and he and Nash were chatting over Skype as Linkara fiddled with a new morpher.

“Wouldn’t surprise me it if it was, but Canada? Why Canada?” Linkara wondered.

“I don’t know, maybe that’s where they build the next park, even though they were giant lizards or whatever,” Nash suggested.

“Weren’t you old enough to see dinosaurs?” Linkara joked, grinning.

“Hey, hey, no jokes about my age!” Nash said, though there was a hint of a smile on his face. “I’m old, not ancient!”

Linkara chuckled before frowning. “...hey, do you mind if I ask you something?”

Nash’s expression turned serious. “Yeah? What’s up?”

“I’ve been having these weird dreams lately,” Linkara admitted, setting down the morpher. “A good number of them have either been about Missingno or the King of Worms--the other eldritch horror I’ve fought. And if not that, they’re just these...I don’t know, they’re just worrying to the point that I’m considering a psychologist.”

“Have you talked to anyone else about them?” Nash asked.

“Kind of? Mostly Harvey and Ninja-Style Dancer, and they...don’t really have answers either,” Linkara admitted, resting his head in one hand. “I don’t really know if it’s PTSD or something else.”

“It might be PTSD, but the way they are, it’s...I don’t know how to explain them, they’re just these surreal things, and whenever I get them I can barely remember them, but it feels like something’s stalking me or trying to kill me and just didn’t get the chance to then and there!”

Linkara sank back into his chair. “I’ve had Nimue monitor my room, and no one is there but me at night.”

Nash winced. “I’m not the best person to ask about mental health, but uh...lord, I don’t know how to help with this. I don’t know of any psychologists or anything, but I’m...I’m here to listen, if that helps any.”

“It does help,” Linkara responded. “I’m sorry, I don’t really know what to do. I’ve kind of just...had to hope they go away.”

“Wish I could just give you a spell to make them go away, but if Mal ever taught me one, I’ve long since forgotten it,” Nash admitted.

Linkara raised an eyebrow. “Since when do you call him Mal?”

“Since I decided it would probably piss him off,” Nash responded. “So, do you wanna keep talking about dumb shit?”

Linkara’s grin returned. “Of course! So, tell me more about the raptors up in Canada...”


End file.
